"Sheep’s Skin" by Elena Topilskaya, summary Automatic translate

"Sheep’s Skin" is a detective novel by Elena Topilskaya, published in 2015 by Severo-Zapad Publishing House. The author is a former prosecutor, and this is evident in every detail: the book is imbued with the authentic atmosphere of St. Petersburg investigative practice, the legal world, and the unwritten rules of prosecutorial work. The plot revolves around the murder of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, committed by a man in a police uniform — the very one who was supposed to protect her.

This book is part of a series of novels about investigator Maria Shvetsova and is the eighth in the series. The television series "Secrets of the Investigation" is based on the entire series. Other books in the series include "Notes of a Mad Investigator," "Spanish Night," "Door in the Mirror," "The Scarlet Mask," and others.

Draw into someone else’s business

Maria Sergeyevna Shvetsova, a senior investigator with the St. Petersburg district prosecutor’s office, received an unusual request from forensic expert Nikita Vladimirovich Pilyutin, her longtime colleague and friend. His fifteen-year-old goddaughter, Katya Kulish, was found dead in a pond in a city park. The local prosecutor’s office declined to open a case, ruling the death a suicide, even though the girl’s wrists bore stripes from ropes, and she was a homely, well-adjusted child who had been planning to buy a poodle with her sister.

Shvetsova secures the transfer of the case to her office — and as a bonus, she receives another case: the murder of a young businessman, Varaksin, whose body was found in the same forest park. Varaksin was shot, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. The district prosecutor, having gotten rid of two "cold cases," bows out, placing a symbolic apple on the table.

Two cases, one forest park

The investigation into Varaksin’s murder is being conducted jointly with detective Nikolai Vasilkov, an energetic and courteous captain from the district where both cases were dropped. The key witness is Lyuda Khanurina, the deceased businessman’s partner, a drug addict with phenomenal powers of observation: she notices details beyond the average person and remembers everything she sees down to the smallest detail. It is she who describes the appearance of the man who took Varaksin from his apartment.

In Katya’s case, the investigator meets with her parents and younger sister, Alisa, a sensible thirteen-year-old girl. Alisa reveals a crucial detail: when Katya was found in the pond, she was wearing someone else’s light-colored tights, although she left the house wearing black ones. This means someone undressed Katya and then dressed her again — and that person knew what size tights she should be wearing but made a mistake. Theft, sexual assault, suicide — none of the standard theories hold: her virginity is intact, there is no semen, and there are no signs of a struggle.

A serial killer in uniform

As Shvetsova’s investigation uncovered a series of similar crimes: several young women disappeared near the Zvezdnaya metro station — Natasha Khvorostovskaya, Nastya Polevich, and others. They were all fair-haired, of roughly the same age and build. Khvorostovskaya was detained by police at the same station shortly before her death.

Shvetsova and Vasilkov request documents from the metro prosecutor’s office. After comparing the handwriting in the detainee’s book with Katya Kulish’s notebook, they determine with a high degree of certainty that the killer is police sergeant Petrov, who was on duty at the Zvezdnaya station picket with his partner, Romanevsky. The girls were initially taken into his custody on minor pretexts, and then disappeared.

At the same time, the circumstances of Varaksin’s murder are being investigated: the investigator discovers a connection between this crime and another body — that of businessman Shimanchik, found on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Shoeprints from both crime scenes match. The murder weapon was a 9mm pistol. This begins to piece together a larger pattern involving Varaksin’s business partners.

Decoy duck

Alisa Kulish, unable to wait for the official results of the investigation, shows up at the Zvezdnaya station on her own and nearly reveals her hand. Shvetsova barely manages to keep the girl from acting out. But it immediately becomes clear that Alisa is the perfect candidate for a sting operation: she’s young, ash-blond, and plump — exactly the type the killer had chosen. The investigator and the detective discuss the arrest plan: they need a decoy who will provoke Petrov into contact — and Alisa is eager to play this role herself, despite all the warnings.

The end of the investigation

The investigation is moving toward Petrov’s arrest. The investigator is preparing a procedural identification parade: Lyuda Khanurina is to officially identify him as the person who abducted Varaksin. At the same time, a handwriting analysis is being conducted on the records in the detainee’s book and the books of the Olympia company — both belong to Petrov. Forensic data, witness testimony, and operational materials are being compiled into an evidentiary base.

Throughout the book, Shvetsova’s personal life unfolds behind the detective storyline: she’s raising her teenage son, Gosha, trying to sort out her relationship with her former lover, Stetsenko, whom she still loves, and periodically sadly admitting that she can’t find a husband. Her colleague, Gorchakov, quarrels with Zoya, the office worker, and asks Shvetsova to help them make peace. This domestic storyline adds a lively touch to the novel, preventing the detective tension from devolving into a dry chronicle of an investigation.